Under a bloody moon
by Xfanatic
Summary: This is a short fic about how Hinata copes with not being able to reach Neji's level in training. It's rated M for cutting. This is my first fic, so please review and tell me how I did.


This isn't a NejiHinata fic, unless you choose to view it that way.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto….

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Hinata sat in her room. The curtains were drawn, only a small ray of light shining through a crack, illuminating her face. _Flick. _The blade was exposed. She could feel its cold smoothness as she lightly passed it over her skin. _You're so weak. _With a determined grip she drew it across her forearm. Nothing happened for a few seconds, and then a small bubble of blood welled up, and filled the thin cut, slowly seeping out and running down to her elbow. It wasn't much. Less than she'd expected.

_How can you even think of challenging me? You are so weak, you can't even beat your sister. Your younger sister. How can you expect to win against me? _She moved the blade slightly closer to her wrist. She was weak, she told herself. This time with a frown on her face she pulled the blade harder. The skin split apart and as she looked at it, pulling her arm into the ray of light, she noticed how white her flesh was underneath her skin. That is until the small beads of blood welled up. This time she pointed her arm down and allowed the blood to trickle towards her hand. There was more of it. A satisfied feeling began to well up from her stomach, and she looked through the crack in her curtain at the bright moon outside.

_Hinata sat panting, the sweat running down the sides of her face. She had to do it. She had to prove to her father, to everyone that she was worthy of the main house. To beat Neji…That's what she had spent all those extra hours at the training grounds for, that's why she returned home nearly every night, sore and aching, pushed to the limit. She looked up at Neji, a frown on her brow and determination in her eyes, and ran forward to attack again. Her speed, it had much improved, as her technique. A fake to the right, landing a kick to the left. Hope welled up as she made contact for the first time in the match, but it was quickly crushed as she felt Neji's palm connect with her chest, sending her flying backwards._

"_And you still think you have a chance of beating me" Neji wore a smirk. Hinata fought desperately to hold her tears back. She'd worked hard, so hard, to try to reach Neji's level. With a roar of rage, unusual for someone so naturally quiet, she got up and attacked again, this time landing a few punches and kicks, nearly managing to cut off Neji's chakra circulation to his right arm. Nearly, but not quite. Her eyes widened has she took a kick to the stomach. She could feel the tangy taste of blood in her mouth. Neji just turned and started walking away._

All the while she was thinking about this she put the blade across her wrist and pressed. Not pulling, just pressing down, harder and harder. _I'll never be able to beat him. I'll never have father's recognition. _There was a knock on the door. Loosing her composure for a few seconds, Hinata scrambled frantically to find something to cover her arm with.

"Wh-who is it?" She asked, cradling a book in her arm. The door opened and a servant entered.

"Your father requests your presence immediately." The servant said, bowing her head respectfully. The servant lifted her head and noted the book held over her arm, and then noted the lack of light.

"V-very well. I-I shall m-meet with him s-soon." The servant bowed again and left. The door was open. She flopped down and lay on her back, lying in the light from the doorway. The blood from her second cut hadn't stopped running yet and the back of the book was looking kind of messy. She was just deciding what clothes would best hide her wounds, when Neji walked by. Hinata shut her eyes tight, as though she could make herself disappear. _What was Neji doing on this wing of the Main House? What perfect timing, now he'll see how weak I really am._ Neji looked dubiously at Hinata lying on the floor.

"I just came to say…" Hinata cracked her eyes open. Neji appeared to be struggling with himself. "I just came to say that I think you've really improved. Compared to the matches we've had before, this one was quite tough. You surprised me." It wouldn't hurt to give her encouragement for once, Neji thought. He had seen how indifferently she was treated by her father, how she was constantly compared to her younger sister. He himself had told her what he thought of their difference in skills on a few occasions. But the look of desperate determination on her face as she fought him earlier today had told him something about her. It had made him think of when he fought Naruto. It was the same look on both their faces, the desperate determination to be recognized. His eyes traveled down to where Hinata was lying.

"What are you doing on the floor?" He queried.

"Just…r-reading." Hinata said listlessly. She couldn't be bothered to try to hide it from Neji. Neji's eyes traveled down to the book covering her arm. He noted the red liquid on her hand.

"You're reading? The book isn't even open and there's no light in your room!" He strode forward and lifted the book off of Hinata's arm. Hinata didn't move, or try to resist. She just lay there and stared at the ceiling. _I wonder, when he tells father, what will happen to me?_ She heard Neji's sharp intake of breath at her wounds. _They're not serious, really. It's not like they will kill me. He's seen worse before._

"You did this to yourself?" Neji asked, sounding uncharacteristically close to panic. Hinata just continued to stare at the ceiling, as though she couldn't hear Neji. In her mind different scenarios were playing out. First of all her father was slapping her, and she was offering no resistance, then he was sending her away, saying she was not fit to be a part of his family. Secondly her sister was there looking at her and laughing at what she was reduced to. She also saw team eight, looking at her with great disappointment.

"Hinata…" She was awakened from her thoughts, each scenario had nearly bought tears to her eyes. She allowed herself a small, unfitting smile at herself, and sat up. Looking at Neji, she decided to give him an explanation.

"We, we all know th-that I'm the, the w-weak one here. S-so I'm j-just f-finding the w-weak, easy w-way of things." She smiled at him again, in an effort to will away the tears, andas she did so, she suddenly felt her stomach drop at saying those things, those true, true things, about herself. All her efforts however, were wasted as she found herself being shook by the shoulders.

"How can you…!" Neji yelled, "How can you say those things… about yourself?" He finished more quietly, as he realized it would be quite easy for Hinata to say that she was weak. She had been told that almost every day of her life after all. Neji felt a pang of guilt at what he had said to her earlier on that day.

The tears started falling down Hinata's cheeks, no matter how hard she tried to stop them. She scrunched her eyes tight and wished that either she or Neji would disappear. Instead she found herself being pulled into an embrace.

"You're strong." Neji said. "Don't ever think that you're not," Hinata sobbed into his shoulder. "And you can become stronger. You're getting stronger every day." He pulled her up. "Come on. We need to get you cleaned up before you meet with your father." He led her to her bathroom, and started wiping away her blood.

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This was my first fic. What did you think of it?


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